


We can Learn, Together

by Cinna_Milk



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: F/M, Maddie Wachowski and Tom Wachowski are Sonic the Hedgehog's Parents, selectively mute sonic, tom and maddie are trying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23777557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinna_Milk/pseuds/Cinna_Milk
Summary: Classic Sonic doesn't speak so i thought hey, why not give that to Movie Sonic, except he's selectively mute, and the Wachowski family has to work together to figure out ways to comunicate
Relationships: Maddie Wachowski/Tom Wachowski
Comments: 5
Kudos: 88





	We can Learn, Together

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this after staying up for 24 hours and gave up on editing at the end, have fun with this chaos and my first ever fic

Living on your own for ten years can be hard. There’s no one to talk to, no one to comfort you, and you won’t be picked up when you fall. 

When Sonic was a child, still living with Longclaw, he was as talkative as he could be. Nothing could stop his motor mouth, especially when he got excited. Which was fine,but that was when Sonic had Longclaw to talk to. Not a fading afterimage of himself. 

Talking to yourself can get pretty boring. Talking to different animals can get kind of boring too. So he eventually just stopped talking, which was fine, it’s not like anyone needed him to answer questions or talk in general. Until he met Tom, when he first met Tom he was happy and spoke for the first time in weeks? Months? Years? It’s not like he kept track of how long it had been since he last spoke, he didn’t even have a calendar to. 

Though, that didn’t matter because he met Donut Lord and he finally had someone to talk with, and boy did he sure talk. He talked about bucket lists, how guac is a funny word, and he had some heartfelt conversations about emotions as well. The best part about it is that he kept talking to Tom! He could actually talk to just about anyone in Green Hills and it was amazing. There was so much to talk about like his nunchucks skills, his guitar skills, the flash comics, and just about everything new that he’s been experiencing. 

It was so great, finally letting his feelings out telling people fun facts. Finally hearing other people actually talk to him as well? That was also pretty good. Donut Lord would always tell bad dad jokes that were kinda funny but he wouldn’t admit that even on his deathbed. Pretzel Lady would be there to help calm him down and let him experience things a bit slower no matter what.

So yeah, finally having people to talk to and feeling like you finally have a voice? It was pretty cool in his opinion. 

Though, there were still times where he didn’t want to talk. He wasn’t always some blabbermouth with no cool down. He needed breaks sometimes too. So some days he wouldn’t talk.. He didn’t really pick, well couldn’t really pick when he was able to talk. They just naturally happened. He’d wake up and just not be feeling it. 

Of course It wasn’t as easy as waking up and just not talking. There was Tom and Maddie who got worried when he didn’t talk. The first time it happened there were worried faces and “Are you okay”s. He didn’t get it though. Sometimes he just couldn’t talk, why was that such a big deal?

It definitely wasn’t one in his books. 

After the first time Tom and Maddie seemed more prepared. They didn’t look at him all weird when he answered the question of “How’d you sleep?’ with a thumbs up like they did last time. They only asked if he was okay like three times that day. Which was way better than the bajillion he had to deal with the first time. Seriously, did they think he’d magically not be okay halfway through the day? He was a hedgehog, not glass.

They slowly got better when dealing with the no talking days. They didn’t happen a lot so progress was small. It eventually got better though. He started to feel less judged each time it happened and more accepted. 

The days where talking seemed like too much or was irrelevant were slow ones. Sometimes he’d listen to Donut Lord rambling about the things he used to do as a kid at the speed trap. Sometimes he’d sit with Pretzel Lady and hear her talk about earth hedgehog biology. Nothing big ever really happened those days. They were just nice breaks where he could have no cares in the world and listen to his favorite people. 

That is until school was brought into the topic of things that Sonic could now do and should now do. 

He loved school so much. It was basically the best place on Earth. Minus being with the Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady. Though, how could he get through school if there were just random days where he wouldn’t- couldn’t talk? Thinking about that just got him stressed, and when he got stressed he couldn’t talk. Which added on even more stress, was this really what normal people just went through? Not being able to talk some days and allowing it even though they need to speak so much. 

It seemed like Tom and Maddie happened to notice because one day while eating breakfast Tom cleared his throat and started talking “So I know you get mad when we ask if you’re okay a bunch when you decide to not talk and I know you’ve told us that we should treat those days like every other normal day, but it’s been happening a lot more lately, and we just wanted to check and be absolutely sure that you were doing good?” 

Oh geez, wait decided? He didn’t choose- wait he did say that it was his choice when they first asked him about everything. He felt his face flush as he looked down and took a bite of his sugary cereal. 

“Sonic? Come on bud you said good morning today I know you’re my talkative goober right now.”

Tom was right about that, he did say “Good morning” with a smile on his face when he went down the stairs. Though, now he would rather drown in the milk left inside his bowl than answer that question, but he can, and he probably should. So after a couple awkward moments of silence he looks up and tells the truth “I've just been thinking a lot-” he’s cut off by his own shaky laugh “probably too much, you know me. Though I’ve thought, what if I can’t speak and the teacher calls on me? What am I gonna do then? I can’t go and tell my brain to stop being dumb and speak. I’d just be stuck there and everyone would be staring at me and then they’d probably whisper about how weird I am outside of class-” 

His rambling/hyperventilating had been cut off by Maddie making him let go of his ears, huh he didn’t even realize he was doing that, and holding him while repeating “Breathe in 3, hold in 7, let go 8.” Things started to feel better after a couple of those, breathing came easier at the very least, the tears he didn’t even recognize were there until Maddie picked him up, those were still coming, but things were slowly getting better. “Sonic, hun you weren’t able to choose when you didn’t speak this whole time and lied to us about it?” 

His brows furrowed. “Yeah… I just, I didn’t have much interaction with humans and there were times when you guys were silent so I thought the times I was silent was normal, but then I learned you guys choose to be silent and didn’t want to make you two worry. I’m sorry, am I- am I in trouble, what I do is bad isn’t it?” 

“Yes. No! It’s not it’s just uh- that… hmmm-” Tom turned to Maddie pleading. 

“Lying about it was bad but this, not being able to speak? It’s not a bad thing, we just could’ve helped you out more if we knew. See Tom and I thought you didn’t speak because you didn’t want to talk at all not because you sometimes had troubles. I guess it might’ve been dumb to assume that what you were saying was the truth, but you never said anything otherwise and never acted any differently so we didn’t really think to check. Though there are other ways to communicate without actually using your voice”

There were other ways to talk without actually speaking! Earth was so weird. He wiped the tears off of his face and let himself be carried to the couch. “I never knew that there were other ways to talk without actually talking. Sure there was writing, but it always felt sloppy and would take too long so I abandoned it.” 

He looked to his left and saw Tom start to mess with his quills. “Well there is writing but you already explained why you shouldn’t do it, but there’s also a couple of other options, the most well known being ASL or American Sign Language. It’s where you make certain shapes and move your hands a certain way to talk.”

Talking with your hands? That’s how you could say stuff without actually speaking. How come he had been on earth for ten years and never seen anyone use this? It seemed a bit suspicious but Tom and Maddie wanted the best for him, at least that’s what they say, and they haven’t done him wrong so far. Just to be sure he had to ask some questions to cover all his bases “So I can talk with my hands, how do I do it, why does no one else use it, is it just some secret code that only we would use?”

Maddie interrupted him with a laugh “Okay let’s slow down just a small bit. Yes you can talk with your hands, you’ll learn how to do it with us, Green Hills is a small town and mainly deaf and mute people use it, it is not some secret code other people know it to.” 

He nods “What’s that word you said earlier” 

“Deaf? That’s when people can’t hear’ 

“No Tom, the one that started with m. Whatsit mean?”

It took about a second for Tom to recognize what he meant “Oh Mute! It’s kinda a word that can describe you, it’s when someone can’t speak out loud. It can be because of injuries or it can just be the way that person happens to be and how they want to communicate.” 

“So that’s what I am, mute?’

He gets a nod from both of them before Maddie starts rubbing behind his ears. “Well, it’s not the exact term, technically you’d be selectively mute because you can still talk and you still try to when you can, but that is still mute.” 

They all fall into comfortable silence after that, he’s definitely late for school but Tom and Maddie don’t seem to care. After what feels like one safe eternity he gets the courage to ask something “So when can I start learning this ASL thing?”

Maddie and Tom look at each other and then look back to him. “Today if you didn’t want to go to school? We can take a nap before maybe and then set up some videos for beginners on one of our laptops?” 

It’s a suggestion, different way to actually start today, Tom made sure to make that clear, but to him there’s only one clear option and that’s trying to learn how to communicate with his family.


End file.
